OCT is an interferometric, optical imaging technique that provides three-dimensional information utilizing backscattered light from an interrogated sample such as biological tissue. OCT imaging systems typically include five main components: a light source, an interferometer, a reference arm, a sample arm, and a detector. An OCT imaging system may acquire an image by utilizing a broad bandwidth low-temporal coherence light source with an interferometer, changing the path length difference between the reference and sample arms by moving a reference arm mirror, and subsequently recording the intensity of the resulting fringes at a photo-receiver. This technique is referred to as time domain OCT (TD-OCT). Later, it was shown that by fixing the reference mirror and recording the spectrum of illuminating wavelengths an image with improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) may be acquired by taking a Fourier transform of the spectrum. This can be achieved by one of two ways. Spectral domain OCT (SD-OCT) utilizes the same source type as TD-OCT but swaps the photo-receiver for a spectrometer, separating wavelengths onto the pixels of a camera. Swept source OCT (SS-OCT) (also referred to as optical frequency domain imaging or OFDI) changes the light source such that the source nominally provides a single output wavelength at a given instant and is swept over a range of wavelengths. A photo-receiver records the intensity of the detected light as the wavelengths are swept over time.
OCT imaging systems have been used in a variety of medical fields. For example, OCT imaging systems have been used for scanning eyes. Current commercial OCT system sample arms only scan one portion of the eye well (anterior eye only or posterior eye only). A few research OCT imaging systems have been described to image both the anterior and posterior eye, but to date, these have limited fields of view due to inherent limitations in available optical components and design. There is a desire to provide OCT imaging systems with improved fields of view in order to provide a whole eye OCT image.